Our village is working towards a Bird Friendly designation from Nature Canada and this is our first WMBD. The event will comprise a "tradeshow" exhibition and several community volunteer groups will be sharing informations about their intiatives. Although the emphasis will definitely be on birds, we aim to promote biodiversity ("everything matters") and that all the "Bs" are important: birds, berries/bushes, bears, beaches (we're a coastal community), biosphere, bird area (we fall into an IBA), butterflies, bugs and bees.
At this stage of planning, these village volunteer groups have committed to taking part (more may join in): Lions Bay Bird Friendly team, our Bear Smart team (we are one of only 10 Bear Smart communities in BC), the Howe Sound Biosphere (an initiative started and driven by a Lions Bay resident; the biosphere region which we fall into was recognised by UNESCO last year), our Native Plant Garden team (promoting indigenous plantings), our Trailblazer hiking group who set up the eagle nest view point on a trail they built (will be leading a walk to the view point to look at the eagles). We have two different activities for kids scheduled: building bird houses and a colouring session (we are using line drawings of local birds which kids will learn about). COVID permitting, our Seniors Social Circle will be providing tea and coffee. We are reaching out to the Squamish First Nation to invite their participation.
As we are at the very beginning of an ongoing initiative, we will be providing material to attendees on protecting birds, their habitat and food sources. This will include information on exterior lights. We are a small team of 7 volunteers and our main goal with this event and the preceding communication campaign will be to engage and inform our community to garner support moving forward. Our strategy is to make this a fun and informative event!
We had planned to include a shoreline cleanup as part of the program, however, this would be a great stand alone event for the warmer weather in June, so are scheduling it then.